Two judges of the Madhya Pradesh High Court on Tuesday, October 28, recused themselves from hearing a suo motu case involving an incident in which a youth from the Other Backward Classes (OBC) community was allegedly forced to wash the feet of a Brahmin man and drink the water.

The division bench comprising Justices Vivek Agarwal and A.K. Singh directed that the matter be placed before a bench headed by the Chief Justice, according to a report by The Times of India.

Explaining their decision, the judges noted that cases earlier taken up by Justice Atul Shreedharan were now being heard by the Chief Justice’s bench.

Justice Shreedharan, who had initially taken cognisance of the case, was transferred earlier this month from the Madhya Pradesh high court to the Allahabad high court.

The Supreme Court Collegium had recommended his transfer to Allahabad instead of the Chhattisgarh high court after the Union government sought a reconsideration of its earlier decision.

A bench led by Justice Shreedharan had taken suo motu cognisance of the incident based on media reports and had directed the Damoh police and administration to invoke the National Security Act (NSA) against the accused. Following the order, five people were booked under the NSA and arrested.

The Collegium’s decision to publicly record the government’s request for reconsideration was an unprecedented move. However, the Collegium’s resolution did not specify the reasons behind the Union government’s request.

During his tenure in Jammu and Kashmir, Justice Shreedharan’s bench had previously struck down several preventive detention orders issued under the Public Safety Act.